The Morning After
by mrsroryhuntzberger
Summary: Ethan dwells on everything the day after Marduke kills Isabel and Arkarian brings her back.


Hello again! I'm back with yet another one-shot. This is about Ethan's thoughts the day following Isabel's mission/death/resurrection. I hope you guys enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Guardians of Time.

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**Ethan**

"Ethan, get up. You're going to be late," are the first words I hear from my mother who's peeking her head in my room to wake me. I glance over at my clock, a temporary replacement for the one I broke about a month ago. She's right; I'm going to be late if I don't get up so I start to sit up when everything that happened last night hits me and despite getting a good nine hours of sleep I have to fight the urge to crawl back into bed and take a nap.

Last night was hell. It was horrible, it was amazing, it was confusing, and I don't know what to think.

Isabel Becket, my new best friend and apprentice, died last night. She was stabbed in the heart by an evil beast who killed my sister when I was four. Her heart stopped beating and she was dead. I was supposed to protect her, to take on anything that interfered with her mission or endangered her, and I failed.

I tried to save her in the Middle Realm, a land of lost souls like hers, by convincing myself she was my soulmate even when I knew deep down she wasn't. Still, I screamed her name as loud as I could, but she couldn't hear me.

It was Arkarian she could hear.

Arkarian, the calmest and quietest man ever, was Isabel, the wildest and most energetic girl ever soulmate. She often yells when she's upset or annoyed, and I've rarely heard Arkarian raise his voice even in the middle of a possible disaster. She would glare at you if things didn't go her way while Arkarian tried to use reasoning to find the best solution. They're opposites but for some reason they're soulmates.

As shocked as I am by this, while I get ready for school it all begins to add up. While Isabel's had an obvious crush on Arkarian ever since they met, Arkarian's done much better hiding his feels but I can recall a few moments where his true feelings came out.

The first has to be after her initiation. He was ecstatic about her gifts then took the two of us horseback riding and to see a performance. He spent most of the time with her, explaining different things and making small talk. It didn't seem like anything then, but now it makes sense. He didn't have to do any of that, I'd been around Athens enough to know where everything is and he probably had work to do or errands to run, but he took time out of his day to spend time with us, namely time with Isabel.

The next is right before my trial, the next day. He'd set up some relaxing baths and massages for her, but Isabel refused and wanted to attend my trial. He should've told her she couldn't; she was an apprentice and **my** apprentice after all, but he gave in and checked with Lorian, and soon enough she was sitting next to him observing my trial. If it had been me or anyone else, that wouldn't have happened, but it was Isabel and apparently Arkarian couldn't say no.

The third was after Marduke had threatened her; while I was on the verge of a breakdown Arkarian asked me multiple times if Isabel was okay and I brushed him off. Then when I told him Marduke threatened her, his reaction came in the form out an outcry, before he quickly forced himself back to his calm persona. I can't imagine many other people could evoke a reaction like this from the normally collected man.

The last, but most obvious and most recent, was when he saw Isabel last night with the dagger sticking out of her still chest. He trembled, he shook, he cried, and overall behaved in a way I'd never seen before. Of course, I was too caught up in my own grief at the prospect of losing my best friend to connect the dots. When he explained to me how I could get her back, the nearly impossible way to bring my best friend back to life, I jumped on it and ignored his concerns about my feelings for her. I had to get her back and to do so I convinced myself I was her soulmate, even though deep down I knew I wasn't. My feelings for her, while confusing and complicated at first, were platonic, and I saw her as my best friend, hell maybe even like a little sister, but now in the way I tried to convince myself I did.

Arkarian must've known this –after all, he knows everything- but still sent me to the Middle Realm and I raced through the dreary greyness screaming her name, in denial the entire time and it wasn't until she was just steps away from the bridge, steps away from death, that I had no choice to accept the fact that she wasn't my soulmate and my best friend was going to die.

Then Arkarian came and said her name, begged her to come home, and she turned around to face him, face her _soulmate_, and all of a sudden all these little pieces started adding up.

I let out a sigh and blink, realizing I just spent 10 minutes standing in my room in only my boxers lost in thought. I curse, throw on my first school uniform I can find, grab my bag, and race out of my room and out of my house heading towards my school.

I arrive to history 20 minutes late where I receive a snarky comment from Mr. Carter and a worried look from Isabel. Isabel, the tiny stubborn hurricane who's alive and perfectly fine no thanks to me, doesn't take her big brown eyes off me until I slip into the seat next to her. I avoid her gaze at first, but moments late a small piece of paper lands on my desk with a message scrawled in familiar handwriting.

_Where were you? Why are you late?_

I sigh and pull my pen out to write out my reply.

_I overslept._

I toss the paper onto her desk, and from her glare I can tell my two-word answer isn't enough for her. I don't know what else to say. "I'm late because I ended up spending the morning thinking about how the man I've known since I was four is your soulmate? I overslept because I was actually in the Citadel having a talk with Arkarian who was drinking his feelings because despite being your soulmate and caring about you, he's ageless and can never be with you?" No, the two-worded answers all I can give her, whether she likes it or not.

She's quiet for the rest of class, but once the bell rings she's on to me like glue, pulling me to the side of the hall after class ends and demanding to know what's wrong. She's not buying the whole 'you-were-just-unconscious' thing as much as I initially thought she was, and my demeanor today doesn't help to suppress her suspicions. To make matters worse, I'm not concerned about Arkarian. He's a grown man, a very old ageless man, so he should be able to take care of himself, but last night he wasn't the man I've known since I was a kid. He was vulnerable, broken, and hopeless; nothing like the man who was my trainer, my mentor, my guide. Never in a million years did I ever think he'd be so susceptible to heartbreak, to the urge to drown his sorrows in alcohol, to this level of despair. I have to make sure he's okay.

I buy myself some time with Isabel by telling her in a hushed voice that my father used to be in the Guard, another fact I learned last night and have yet to fully wrap my head around. In a way, I suppose I haven't dwelled too much on it because I am less surprised by it for some reason. Isabel's shocked by this and wishes to know more, but I guess the look on her face tells her it's not the time to ask. She heads to her next class and I start my journey to Arkarian's.

The secret door is open when I arrive, but when I enter I find that his chamber is empty. I stand around for a few minutes and wonder what state Arkarian will be in. Will he be hungover beyond belief? Will he be depressed like he was last night?

I don't get to consider any other options before he appears right in front of me causing me to jump back a bit. At least he has enough energy to use his wings, I think to myself as I look up at him.

I'm surprised; he looks fine. He doesn't look any different than when I saw him yesterday before the mission, before everything that happened. I stare at him and he knows immediately why I am here and lets out a sigh.

"I am fine," he starts, "and you can't tell Isabel anything."

I disagree with him on that point, but it isn't my place to say so. I understand why he believes this is the best choice and, to a certain extent, agree with him, but I also have a feeling in my gut that this'll come back to haunt us.

He hears my thoughts and nods before speaking. "However, it can't be any worse than her reaction if she knows now."

Again, I disagree with him.

We're quiet for a moment before he says to me, "You need to go back to class. It'll look suspicious if you aren't there."

He's right so I leave him, and make my way down the mountain in silence, musing over soulmates and my father. I arrive back at school just in time for lunch where Isabel corners me once again.

"I heard you skipped last period. Why?" she questions me as she stands on her tippy-toes so she can stare me in the eyes directly.

"I needed some time to think," I answer, trying to push her away from me as gently as possible.

She continues to stare at me before sighing, stepping back, and changing the subject. "You missed Mr. Carter's computer acting up and blaring strange animal noises."

I laugh at this and we make our way towards a table where we eat our lunch and for a brief moment I feel like everyone else; a kid whose greatest challenge is passing math. I know I need to talk with my dad about the Guard, talk to Arkarian about his feelings for Isabel, talk to Isabel about her feelings towards _me_, and figure out how the Guard's going to deal with Marduke, but for now I let all of that go and enjoy a meal with my best friend.

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The ending was kind of meh but I hope you guys enjoyed it. If you can, let me know what you think by leaving a review, but if you can't thats fine. Again, I hope you enjoyed it.


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